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FORT MYERS — John Lackey smiled. John Lackey laughed. John Lackey made us wonder if we were living in The Matrix.

Was this the same guy who basically created a new verb (“to surl”) while ensuring no one could see the side of him that makes him universally loved by teammates, even if it meant being reviled by pretty much everyone else?

But there he sat in the interview room at JetBlue Park, friendly and relaxed, thrilled to have stared his career mortality in the face and not blinked.

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